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Build a Simple Kayak Rack From PVC

Posted: 11.03.2014

Here’s a simple kayak rack that I built from PVC.

It’s sufficiently sturdy for two or three kayaks, light, and inexpensive. It seems very stable but if you are concerned about stability just use the bottom two racks for kayaks and the top racks for paddles. I built the rack for roughly $130 in material cost. My widest kayak is 33″ and the rack dimensions handle that very nicely with some room to spare. You can see from the picture how I pieced it together. It’s made from 1 1/2 inch PVC. Here’s the parts list:

Raw Materials:

Quantity

Part

7

10 foot of 1.5″ Schedule 40 PVC

24

PVC “T” fittings

8

PVC End Caps

1

8 oz. All Purpose PVC glue

You will need to cut the PVC into these lengths

Quantity

Length

6

36″

6

60″

8

12″

20

4″

Possible Upgrades: After building this, a couple quick ideas came to mind.

If you going to put the rack out in the back yard, it might be a good idea to put a “concrete deck block” under each post to keep it from sinking into the ground over time. I currently have mine resting on bricks but the rack tends to slide of when loading and unloading kayaks. I deck block would prevent this from happening.

You could put some kind of padding on the cross bars. I thought about putting pool noodles on the cross bars but I like how easy the kayak slides on the bare PVC when loading and unloading kayaks. I’m going to keep the PVC uncovered for now.

You could put wheels on the bottom as well if you have the rack in your garage. It would make it easy to move it out of the way if you have limited space.